Snapshots
by lellabeth
Summary: My submissions for the Twilight Twenty-five challenge, round eight. 25 prompts, three months, 300-500 words each. Rated M, just in case.
1. Prompt 2

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: #2**  
**Pen Name: lellabeth**  
**Pairing/Character(s): Bella/Edward**  
**Rating: T**  
**Word Count: 477**

**Photo prompts can be found here:**  
**thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts**

**Thank you to Fiya, always.**

* * *

I sort through the stacks of pictures, each one sparking a memory-movie inside my head.

You, in front of the Eiffel Tower -

_"This is so cliché, you know," you said, the sting of your words soothed by the warmth in your smile. "I love it."_

_"I love you," I replied, and your face got soft the way it always did when you heard those words._

_"Put the camera down and come kiss me, Edward."_

_"But I have a moment to capture!"_

_"And you can capture it after you kiss me. I can stand in front of the tower again afterwards."_

_So I did what you said, leaving the camera and our bags on the deserted sidewalk. My arms wrapped around your body so tight as your lips rediscovered mine. Each kiss with you felt like the first, the last, the most perfect and the most loving, a shock and a comfort all rolled into one._

_And when I stepped back from you, you were so beautiful, hair long and blowing in the wind, that for a moment I was too overcome to do anything. Then I dropped to one knee, because when you love someone as much as I loved you, love, you marry them._

_I didn't have a ring but I had plans, and hopes and dreams and words full of promises, and you had a smile so wide that the jewellery didn't seem important._

_Minutes later when sense returned, I rushed to finally take that picture of you, only to find there was one already on the screen. One showing you with your arms wrapped around my neck, your legs in the air as you said yes. Your face and mine, liquid-joy tears and eyes shining because our hearts were so overflowing with love, it just had to spill out in other places, and I don't know who took the picture but I knew I'd treasure it._

_You said maybe it was a romantic soul walking past, but I thought maybe the universe had to keep a record of a moment where the world shifted such as that._

That picture is curled at the edges but still strong, still there and true, just like the love I have for you.

"Did you pick one, Dad?" our son asks, and I nod as I wipe the tears from the laminate surface. I stroke a thumb across your face, so love-drunk, so young.

"This is the one I want her buried with," I tell him, passing the picture over.

And so the picture sits beside you in your final place to sleep, your cancer-withered hand resting over it, the tarnished gold of your wedding band resting against our faces for the rest of time.

I will live, love, but I will do so half-muted and in the dark.

The light of my life has burnt out.

* * *

**Thank you for reading.**


	2. Prompt 6

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**  
**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: #6**  
**Pen Name: lellabeth**  
**Pairing/Character(s): Bella/Edward**  
**Rating: T**  
**Word Count: 456**

**Photo prompts can be found here:**  
**thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts**

**Thanks so much to Geeky for looking this over. She's the best.**

* * *

"Rescue me, Prince Edward! Hurry, before the dragon wakes up!"

He runs toward me, gangly limbs flailing as his tin foil armor rustles in the wind.

"Don't worry, Princess Bella! I'm coming!"

He's at my cardboard castle in seconds, his small, skinny arms wrapped around me. "I have you, Bella! I've rescued you from the dragon!"

His chapped lips press against mine quickly, so unexpected that I freeze. The scratchy underskirt of my pink dress rubs against my legs as they shake, my heart racing faster than I've felt before.

I've seen kissing in TV shows and movies, but my Mom always turned them over before I could see this part, where your whole body heats and trembles. I lurch forward and plant my own lipstick-pink lips on his, my tiny body crashing into his chest.

We both pull back wide-eyed and wondering, Edward's eyes blinking rapidly behind the wire frame of his glasses.

"That felt… funny," he says, his lips curling at the corners.

I huff, annoyed that he's such a_ boy._

"Kisses don't feel funny, Edward! They're meant to be the seal of true love!"

He scratches his mud-streaked forehead, the foil on his arms leaving red marks on his face. They blend in with the blush that's staining his cheeks.

"Well, what does the seal of true love feel like?"

I huff again. "It feels like… like butterflies are dancing around you! And birds come out of their trees and start singing! And you have to get married to the princess!

"Married?" Edward asks, swallowing hard. "But we're only eight! I can't get married!"

"True love isn't about how old you are, Edward! It's like that saying, age doesn't have anything to do with numbers!"

"Fine! We'll be in true love, then!"

"Good!" I shout back, kicking him in the shin for shouting at me.

This time he's the one who huffs as he limps off. I'm left to watch him leave, trying to ignore the fluttery feeling that won't leave my tummy alone.

* * *

I rest my head on my husband's shoulder, his hands gripping the white satin covering my waist tighter as he hums into my ear.

"You had a good day?" he asks quietly.

"The best," I whisper back, blinking away tears that blur the faces of the circle surrounding us.

"I guess we did really seal that true love, hm?"

I turn my face into his chest and giggle, my heart so full of love I can barely contain it all.

"Am I still your princess?"

He brings one hand from around my waist up to my chin, propping his knuckles underneath it and tilting my face up so I'm looking into wet emerald eyes.

"Better. You're my queen, Bella."

* * *

** Thank you for reading! Until next time, xo.**


	3. Prompt 16

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**  
**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: #16**  
**Pen Name: lellabeth**  
**Pairing/Character(s): Bella/Edward**  
**Rating: T**  
**Word Count: 489**

**Photo prompts can be found here:**  
**thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts**

* * *

The tip of his nose teases the nape of my neck, the over-washed bobbles on his t-shirt tickling my bare shoulders.

"Edward, stop it!" I say, jerking forward.

He laughs and pulls me backwards into the cradle of his thighs, night-cooled sand sinking around us as we shift. "You love it."

"No, I don't." The smile on my face contradicts my words, but being with him always causes my lips to curl and curve.

"I love you," he says, petulant, as if we haven't had this conversation a thousand times.

"And I love you, except for the times that you annoy me."

"Love isn't meant to have clauses and time-outs, silly girl."

"Well don't annoy me, and then it wouldn't!"

This time he snorts right into my neck, the unexpected gust of hot air making me flinch.

"Edward!" I twist to look back at him, still laughing and not at all remorseful. "It's not funny."

"The way your nose scrunches when you get annoyed? Babe, that's funny."

I turn back round with a huff, staring out into the endless ocean before us.

"Tell me," I whisper, calmed by the lapping of waves over our tangled feet.

"We're going to leave this town behind. We're going to do things these people have only dreamed of, Bella. We're going to walk streets they don't know exist, live with love and a freedom they can only dream about."

I swallow past the lump in my throat, ignoring the tears that make my cheeks wet.

"Tell me again," I rasp, hurting and burning with a need for it to come true.

"I'm going to take you places and show you happiness like you've never known, baby. I'm going to keep a smile on your face every day. We'll meet a lot of people, but you'll still be the most beautiful girl I've ever seen."

I nod as he speaks, my head moving back and forth faster as I cry harder.

"We're going to rescue each other, Bella. I swear it."

With this, I break like the tide before me. My angers rolls, rages, rushes, and then it slithers back out slowly, until only damp is left behind. "She's drinking more now. The things she says to me…"

"You ignore them, baby. You ignore her words and you listen to mine, okay? We'll get our revenge one day, I promise you. We're going to live so good, they can't even imagine it."

His words wash over me like waves, the hope in them suffocating and terrifying, and I pray that they'll come true.

I lean back into him. I give him my weight on these nights we spend together, free myself of the burdens that tie me down.

This time when he leans forward, it's with a fierce whisper in my ear. "I'll make it better. I'll make your life so much better."

The love rushing through me reminds me that he already has.

* * *

**Thank you for reading.**


	4. Prompt 21

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: #21**

**Pen Name: lellabeth**

**Pairing/Character(s): Edward/Bella**

**Rating: T**

**Word Count: 395**

**Photo prompts can be found here:**

**thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts**

**Thank you to Fiya for looking this over.**

* * *

"You need to jump, Ava. Daddy can't catch you unless you jump."

"But Daddy, the water's so BIG. I'm only little!"

"Daddy's bigger, baby girl."

I look down at the water. It's deep - there's more water than I've ever seen, even more than when Mommy has a bath and fills it to the top with bubbles.

I adjust my Dora floaties, wishing Daddy hadn't blown them up so much. They dig into my ribs and make me hold my arms out from my body like I'm on the bench we use for gym.

"Come on, sweetheart. A little jump and then I'll have you snuggled tight. I'm right here for you."

I look at Daddy, his hair wet from where he dunked under the water. He doesn't look scared by how big the water is, but then he's Daddy - he isn't afraid of anything.

I step up to the edge of the pool and giggle at the way Daddy holds his arms out and scrunches his face up.

"Go on, Ava. Daddy will catch you," Mommy says from behind me. I look back at her, at the soft smile on her face. "You're a big girl now."

I nod, because she's right. I'm five now, and that means I have to act like a grown up.

"I'm jumping, Daddy!" I shout, holding my nose between my fingers like he taught me.

My feet leave the edge, my legs folded over with how hard I jump.

For long seconds, I fly.

Then Daddy's arms are around me, cradling and cuddling, swooping me from the air and into his chest that's rumbling with laughter.

I can hear Mommy cheering from her deck chair, and I giggle as other people in the pool turn to watch her. She doesn't care, her smiling face only fixed on me.

Daddy tickles my sides as he shifts me in his arms, making me splash water all over him. He just laughs harder though, his smile so wide it puts dimples in his cheeks.

"You caught me, Daddy!" I squeal, flinging my arms around his neck and squeezing tight.

He rubs my back gently, making the wet material of my princess swimming costume stick to my skin.

"Daddy will always catch you, sweetheart."

And through childhood tantrums and teenage tears, from my first heartbreak to my first dance, he does.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**


	5. Prompt 18

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: #18**

**Pen Name: lellabeth**

**Pairing/Character(s): Edward/Jasper**

**Rating: T**

**Word Count: 385**

**Photo prompts can be found here:**

**thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts**

* * *

The leaves are almost as bronzed as the hair peeking from the hood of your jacket, the yellowed tips matching the gold flecks of your eyes. Those eyes are crinkled at the edges as you smile and laugh - not the fake one I see you give all too often, but full and honest, the type of free only I give you the comfort to be.

You kick dried debris toward me, the pieces catching in the wind and swirling all around us. It feels like we're in our own cocoon away from the world, instead of in a town far enough away not to be recognized, where you can hold my hand without fear of it getting back to your father or girlfriend.

You spin around me, leaving me dizzy like always. Some days it feels both of us are moving in circles that can never intersect, but on others it feels like I'm fighting to catch up with you around curved edges and looped bends, trying not to push so hard I throw myself off the track.

My fate is pining over you in hallways, your arm wrapped around a girlfriend that doesn't know you half as well as I do. She'll never love you like I can, and I wonder if you know it. I wonder if it eats away at your insides like a cancer, because it does for me. I see you with her and I seethe, vowing to never let myself be second best again. But your eyes will meet mine, so soft and sad, and then I'm too heartbroken to remember anything but how bitter missing you tastes.

You say your Dad running for Mayor means you can't come out, but part of me wonders if you're caught up in the safety of that closet you've shut yourself in. You don't realize you're buried so deep you're suffocating, counting down the seconds until your air supply runs out. There's no question that it will, and then your world will implode.

The only question is whether I'll be around to help you pick up the pieces.

Except as you let your lips graze mine for just a second, pressing that smile into my face, I know there's no question at all.

I'm destined to chase you forever.

* * *

**Thank you for reading.**


	6. Prompt 13

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: #13**  
**Pen Name: lellabeth**  
**Pairing/Character(s): Bella/Edward**  
**Rating: M**  
**Word Count: 373**

**Photo prompts can be found here:**  
**thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts**

**I don't really know what this is. It just happened, and even though it's dark and strange I wanted to use it for the prompt.**

* * *

My heart is liquid, slipping and sliding around my veins, dripping from my fingertips as they touch you. My love is a dark smear across your flesh, your lips, the pure peach of your skin. My sadness seeps into you, not stopping until it's bone-deep, grabbing your insides and twisting until you're as ruined as I am.

* * *

"I love you," you said.

"Your love is wasted," I replied.

And it is, because I am too prickly for love, too hard for soft words. I am not darkness. Light does not shine through me, it does not illuminate or guide.

I am a void.

Your light is sucked in, absorbed, lost in a sea of hurt so big it swallows me whole.

I am shrunken, shrivelled, a shell.

But you insist the sickness inside me can be fixed, that the gaps residing inside me will be filled with the happiness you bring. You give and I take endlessly, depleting and sucking dry, and still you hope - that the medication will work this time, that the memories polluting my head will end.

"Which me do you love?" I ask.

"You," you say. "I love you."

Except you can't know me, because I have more faces than an album full of pictures. I am guarded but raw, vulnerable yet steeled. I am a glass that has shattered, refracting and reflecting, my edges sharp enough to cut paper.

Instead they cut you and leave you bleeding, and still you come back like there's a rose to be found among my thorns.

My petals have long been withered, left in a frost too long to be sustained, yet you persevere as if you can regain the girl you had lost.

She had been taken from you one night as she walked home alone and caught the eye of a man with blackened insides and a hole where his soul used to be.

So now you sit next to a bed, praying that one day your words will break through this barrier he left behind. You hope that the girl you used to know is still here, inside the fallen rubble of my hopes and dreams.

I fear what will happen the day you find she's gone.

* * *

**Thank you for reading.**


	7. Prompt 14

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: #14**

**Pen Name: lellabeth**

**Pairing/Character(s): Bella/Edward**

**Rating: T**

**Word Count: 494**

**Photo prompts can be found here:**

**thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts**

**Thanks to the WC girls for checking this over.**

* * *

_The Smiths, The Cure, The Who..._

I flick through the old records in the section marked as 'Bands beginning with The', hoping no one realizes I'm only looking because the name made me giggle. There's a skinny boy across from me wearing a shirt that's buttoned to the top, a heavy backpack with straps clipped around his waist. The bag looks like it weighs as much as he does, and I can't help the laugh that bubbles out at the thought of him toppling over.

He glances back at me at the sound, eyes widening as they meet mine behind his probably fake-lensed glasses. He breaks the eye contact immediately, looking down at the carpet instead. He does this awkward shuffle, jutting each hip out to the side as he moves his feet back and forth, and then suddenly he's walking my way.

I drop my face back down and pretend to be looking at the cardboard sleeves before me, ignoring the scuffed Converse that have just stepped into my eyeline.

"Hello," he says, so softly I have no choice but to look up. "I'm Edward Cullen."

"Uh, I'm Bella."

"Hello, Bella. Did you know your name means beautiful in Italian? You are very beautiful, which is good. You deserve to have a name that suits you."

I blink, confused, because that sounded very much like a line - except his tone is monotonous and he isn't staring my way at all, and he's holding himself stiffly like he's uncomfortable. "Are you okay?" I ask, confused.

"I'm okay in that I am not hurt, but I'm slightly distressed because I'm not sure how to talk to you."

Again, I blink. "How to talk to me?"

"Yes." He twists his fingers together like he's agitated. "I've had lessons in how to speak to people, but they didn't cover this, and now I'm unsure of what to say next."

"Why didn't they cover this?"

"We learnt how to speak to authority figures and how to behave appropriately in public, as well as how to converse with peers. None of those lessons mentioned pretty girls, though."

I try to process his words, but I'm stuck on the last part. "You think I'm pretty?"

At this his head finally comes up, though he looks three inches to the left of my eyes still. "I think you're very beautiful, and I would like to know how to make you go on a date with me."

"Uh, you ask," I say, strangely charmed.

"Bella, would you agree to accompany me on a date? It would be my honour to take you out."

I nod and he breaks into a breathtaking smile, letting his eyes meet mine for just a second. "Thank you," he says, and then he's back to looking down.

After we arrange to meet and he informs me he has to leave, I can't help but think Edward was wrong.

He totally knows how to talk to women.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**


	8. Prompt 1

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: #1**

**Pen Name: lellabeth**

**Pairing/Character(s): Bella/Edward**

**Rating: M**

**Word Count: 498**

**Photo prompts can be found here:**

**thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts**

**Thank you to the WC girls for checking this over. You're all wonderful.**

* * *

"Hey, you, I wasn-"

"I need you to come and pick me up!" you say through loud sobs that make your voice shake.

"What's going on?" I ask, panicked. "Is that your Dad shouting?"

"I told them about the baby," you say quietly, but it's enough to make the yelling in the background louder. "They're saying I'm not allowed to keep it, Edward. That if I do, I have to move out. Please come and get me."

I'm up on my feet before you've even finished the first sentence, the vicious tone of your Dad's voice grating against my skin. "I'll be as fast as I can, sweetheart. Just hold out, okay? I'm coming for you."

I run down the stairs and out to my car, cursing every second it takes for the rusted heap of junk to start. Finally it does, and I slam into reverse and hightail it out of my driveway.

The sound of your scared, teary voice fills the space around me, causing me to push my foot harder on the gas pedal. I'm risky, reckless, but my girl's hurting, and that means the speed limit is the least of my concerns.

I replay your words, the plain fear in them making my own eyes water. I think of the small bump of your stomach, and I know that if your parents won't support us, then we'll just have to do it without them.

When I pull up to your house, you come running out into the yard with swollen eyes and no shoes, your Daddy chasing you out of the house. You wrench open the car door and scream at me to go, and so I do, leaving him standing on the tire tracks I've made in your driveway.

You're making these noises like you're dying, tortured moans and shuddering breaths, and I have to pull over to wrap my arms around you tight. You fall into me, your body slumping even as it shakes.

I hold you for what feels like hours, wrapping my body around yours like a shelter. I hug you tight, wishing I could squeeze out the ugly words filling your head.

"What about the baby? I can't get rid of our baby," you say, and I pull you back into my body even harder, closer.

"You won't, Bella. It won't come to that."

"But Daddy said I have to move out if I have the baby, Edward! What are we going to do?"

"I'll figure it out."

"But we-"

"I'll figure it out, Bella. Just close your eyes, baby. You need to take care of yourself and our baby and let me deal with this."

Eventually your eyes close and so do mine, though not to sleep. I squeeze my eyelids together, trying to stop the flow of tears brimming there. I stroke your hair, swallowing hard as I dial numbers into my cell, turning to the only safe place I know.

"Dad? I'm in trouble."

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**


	9. Prompt 3

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: #3**  
**Pen Name: lellabeth**  
**Pairing/Character(s): Bella/Edward**  
**Rating: T**  
**Word Count: 464**

**Photo prompts can be found here:**  
**thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts**

**Thanks and love to the WC girls for looking this over. **

* * *

_'If you come to a fork in the road, take it'_

The words are as cracked as the dreams of the woman who used to read them, peeling paint on battered wood, age making the words almost indecipherable. She'd sit in her rocking chair, directly across from the mantle above the fireplace, staring at the sign as she worked away on her embroidery. Then she'd turn to look at the two straight lines on the road outside our house, no forks visible. She'd sigh as she turned back around, the crinkles around her eyes just that little bit deeper.

My mother encouraged me to do something, be somebody, live the life she'd wanted to. She never spoke the words 'but then I had you instead', yet I felt them anyway, wedging a gap between us.

It wasn't a surprise when she left, though that she chose to do it just as I reached the teenage years when a girl could really use her mother seemed particularly unfair. She decided her life was too narrow and straight, not enough twists for her liking, and so she walked out.

It felt ironic that her need for a fork in the road turned into a forced one in mine.

So now I spend my days laying on those two yellow lines, wondering whether life-changing things only happen to people who seek them. I think of my mother, of the 13 years she spent waiting, and conclude with a sigh that my chances don't look too good.

I'm so caught up that I don't hear the rumble of an engine, just the screech of brakes and cursing in a deep voice. Then I see an upside down face with tight lips but smiling eyes, messy hair and the hint of a dimple, and I wonder if the car ran me over and I'm now in some sort of swoony-boy heaven.

"I'm Bella," I say, because I want nothing more than to hear the way his tongue wraps around my name.

"Hello, Bella." It's even better than I thought, all rough and amused and with a southern twang, and that's when I'm certain heaven is the only place that boys like this exist.

"Are you an angel?"

He laughs from deep inside his chest, growly and loud, and I'm not sure if it's that or the bright sunlight behind him that blinds me.

"I think the only angel around here is you." That dimple turns into more than just a hint, and I discover swooning is possible when laying down.

He reaches down, offering me a hand to pull me up.

"So, Miss Bella, are you happy to show a new boy around town?"

That's when I learn that sometimes, a fork in the road can find you.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**


	10. Prompt 10

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**  
**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: #10**  
**Pen Name: lellabeth**  
**Pairing/Character(s): Rose/Emmett**  
**Rating: T**  
**Word Count: 423**

**Photo prompts can be found here:**  
**thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts**

**Thanks to the WC girls, as always.**

* * *

The tear drips from my jaw into the endless depths of the well, a dull penny falling from my fingers and following soon after.

"Please," I say, more of a beg than a wish. "Give me a sign that this is worth it. I need something, because the days are becoming harder to get through.."

I brace my fingers on the stones before me as I open my mouth to speak again, but I don't anticipate how slippery they'll be. My hands flail and grasp at nothing except air as I try to tilt my body backwards, startled yelps leaving my throat as I struggle not to fall in.

"Whoa there!" I hear, and the next thing I know there's a strong, muscled arm around my waist. It draws me back into a hard chest and a warm stomach, lips near my ear shushing me.

"It's okay," my rescuer says. "Everything is okay."

I crumble, as fragile as the aged bricks before me. Enough tears to make the well overflow trail down my face, ugly-sounding sobs echoing in the cluster of trees around us.

"Nothing is okay!" I shout, my emotions mangling my voice. "I'm so tired of nothing being okay."

I expect the man holding me to run off as fast as he can, but instead he pulls me even closer and wraps another arm around my stomach. "I have you," he says quietly, gently. "You can cry."

And I do - big, horrible cries, wheezing breaths and incoherent ramblings, and through it all he holds me.

Eventually I calm, the quiet of the forest calming me. I slump back into the body behind me, wondering why I feel so safe in the embrace of someone I've never met.

"Better?"

"Yes. I… I'm sorry for this."

"Don't be. I like to think that it was fate," he says, and I don't have to see his smile to know it's there.

"I'm Rose."

"Emmett," he replies, his hands twitching from my place at their waist. He laughs. "Sorry, I teach at a school for the deaf. I'm too into the habit of signing my name."

"Signing?" I ask, a smile teasing the edges of my mouth as I stare at the well before us.

"Yep, like this." He moves his fingers slowly, deliberately, and I recognise that he's signing letters.

"What did you say?"

"Beautiful," he says, pressing a kiss below my ear.

As I turn to face him, I make a mental note that wishing wells tend to take things literally.

* * *

**Just something silly :) Thanks for reading!**


	11. Prompt 19

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**  
**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: #19**  
**Pen Name: lellabeth**  
**Pairing/Character(s): Esme/Edward**  
**Rating: M**  
**Word Count: 450**

**Photo prompts can be found here:**  
**thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts**

**Thanks so much to Geeky and Fiya for looking this over.**

* * *

"People shouldn't have to live that way. It's my job to make that right."

I cuddled closer into khaki-green cotton. You had so much faith, enough for the both of us, so much courage and conviction that made me wish I'd raised you to be a little less brave. It was as if you'd soaked up all the strength I had and left me leaning, while you stood tall there on the porch, my head resting over the name patch covering your heart.

I cursed myself for raising a boy so upstanding, so honour-bound and pure, a man-turned-warrior running into battle, risking his life to improve that of others. I'd looked after you since you were born, loved you for even longer, and yet you were fighting for my freedom, so I would never know pain. I hated that you'd become the protector rather than the protected.

"Nothing is going to hurt me."

I took you to veterans' hospitals as a teen, selfishly hoping to douse that flame inside you that said the only way to gain peace was for you to fight. But it had the opposite effect, their mottled skin becoming your mettle, their broken legs strengthening your backbone, and then suddenly you were eighteen and a soldier of the US Army.

You were 'son' to the recruiters, but I wasn't ready to let you go.

"I'll be back, Mama."

You were right.

I just didn't expect that to be in a coffin.

So now I stand by a freshly-dug grave, listening to the practiced empathy of someone in a shade of green-brown that turns my stomach. I watch him drape the flag of a country that's betrayed me over wood, yet all I see is you at an altar marrying a pretty girl who you'll never know, cuddling the child you never got to have.

And I know that I'm meant to be dignified, but grief has a way of twisting your brain. I ignore the gasps of people who barely knew you as I sink to my knees in damp grass, sobbing and heartbroken and aching.

"You said you'd come back! You promised me. You promised me, Edward!" I pound my fists into the dirt, not caring that my arms are caked in mud. I resist the hands of those who try to pull me up. I shout and I scream until my throat's as raw as my insides, ignoring the murmurs all around me.

I let everyone watch me crumble and break, because _this_ is the ugliness of war.

The pain of the ones left behind.

"Someone needs to give those people a voice."

But God, how I wish it hadn't had to be you.

* * *

**Thank you for reading.**


	12. Prompt 11

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: #11**

**Pen Name: lellabeth**

**Pairing/Character(s): Bella/Edward**

**Rating: M**

**Word Count: 336**

**Photo prompts can be found here:**

**thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts**

* * *

My hair catches the breeze, tangling and knotting as it whips against the window.

"You're crazy, you know?" He shouts over the rush of air, his laugh strong even over the deafening noise.

I smile and tilt my face toward the sun, watching the fields turn into a blur of green as he presses down harder on the foot pedal.

"How long with this one?"

"2 days, max. Out of state plates always draw suspicion."

I pout from the backseat, watching his smirk through the rearview mirror.

"I like this one!" I say, moving my torso outside the window. I let the wind move my hand up and down, the gusts making it weightless as it floats outside the car. I weave it in random patterns, giggling as Edward turns to watch for a second.

"You flying, baby?"

The heat of the sun warms my skin as I nod, squinting when the trees break and the light comes flooding in. I squeal as Edward makes the car swerve and turn on the empty road, his strong hands commanding the steering wheel.

Tires screech as he spins up in loops that kick up dust from the roadside, making me blink and cough as it swirls around me.

"You need to stop?"

"Never!" I say, laughing. "Don't ever stop!"

He just shakes his head, used to my silliness by now. He makes the car spin for so long that even when he stops, my world still turns, and then he tears down the desolate road before us. There's nothing in sight except fields and a mountain range on the horizon, and it's here that I discover what it means to truly be free.

The journey seems endless, but I know we'll have to stop eventually - we need to ditch the car and pick up another, not to mention find somewhere to stash the stolen money hidden in the trunk.

For now though, we drive for hours, chasing the wind.

Not once does the smile leave my face.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**


	13. Prompt 12

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: #12**

**Pen Name: lellabeth**

**Pairing/Character(s): Bella/Edward**

**Rating: M**

**Word Count: 438**

**Photo prompts can be found here:**

**thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts**

**This flash contains some upsetting and sensitive themes.**

* * *

Short, panting breaths.

"Bella? Are you there, baby? I need you to pick up."

A pause.

"You're probably dropping Amber at school. I didn't realize the time. I'm calling because… because I love you."

His voice breaks.

"I love you more than I can describe. I lay awake at night sometimes, and I listen to the soft sounds of you breathing. I feel the warmth of your body next to me, and I feel blessed. Blessed to have you, blessed to call you mine. Blessed that my daughter has such a wonderful mother."

Muffled noises in the background, a raspy cough.

"The day you married me was the happiest of my life. The walk you took down the aisle felt like a million miles as I waited to feel your hand touch mine. I barely remember anything about that day, because most of my time was spent staring at you, thanking God that he'd given me this kind of love."

The noises grow louder.

"To see you pregnant with our daughter just made that love even more special, because out of it we'd created life. We'd made a child, and as terrifying and daunting as that seemed, I knew anything was manageable with you by my side."

Pounding footsteps.

"You've made me a better man, Bella. You showed me how to be the kind of person I'd always dreamed of being.""

Echoing cries.

"Baby, something… something's happened, and I don't think I'm going to get out. There's no way down the stairs, and the elevators are shut off. People are jumping, but I… I'm not brave enough."

A whimper, desperate and hurting.

"God, I wish I was brave enough. I wish I'd stayed home today. I have a million wishes, and I'll never be granted any of them except this: I wish you will never doubt, even for a second, that I'll love you forever."

Deep, unsteady breaths.

"Tell Amber that something terrible happened here, but that one dark day should not block the light of the ones that follow. Tell her… tell her that her father would have given anything to see her grow up. I hope you teach her that love will always triumph over hate, and that I love her with all my heart."

More screaming, louder now.

"Life goes on, baby. Remember that. Remember that I want nothing more than for you to be happy, always. I love y— "

A long, drawn-out beep.

A mechanical voice.

'_Message ended at 9:21 am on the 11th of September'_

* * *

**Thank you for reading.**


	14. Prompt 4

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**  
**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: #4**  
**Pen Name: lellabeth**  
**Pairing/Character(s): Bella/Edward**  
**Rating: T**  
**Word Count: 490**

**Photo prompts can be found here:**  
**thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts**

* * *

"I w-w-w-want to si-sign up."

The girls behind the table turn to each other, eyebrows raised and mouths curved into ugly smiles. "Swan the Stutterer thinks she can sing?"

I close my eyes.

_Their words mean nothing._

"Y-y-yes, I do."

_Stand straight, sweetheart._

"It's your funeral." Her teeth gleam in the harsh light, her blonde hair sparkling.

I grit my teeth, wishing I had enough words to make her hurt, but they're trapped behind the tongue that swells and blocks my mouth.

_Be proud._

"Th-thank you."

I turn away, ignoring the giggles sharp enough to pierce and wound.

_You'll show them all._

I hope he's right.

* * *

I stand beside the stage, waiting for Mike Newton to finish his drum solo. I dig my fingernails into my palm as I feel doubtful gazes sear and scorch the side of my face.

I falter for a second, wondering if I can do this. I've worked for hours, days, weeks to make this happen.

I _need_ this to happen.

My phone buzzes with a new message, the vibration jarring my bones and restarting my breathing.

_I'm here._

And there he is, striding through the open gym doors. People turn and stare as he saunters past through the aisle between the chairs, moving toward the front. He commands attention, his leather jacket making his shoulders seem even broader, heavy boots clomping across the floor even as the drums pound on in the background. His lip and nose piercings glint in the low-lighting as he gets closer to me, and not even the shadows can obscure the smirk spread wide across his mouth.

He stands in front of me, lets his scarred knuckles brush the palm of my hand. His skin is rough, but his touch is gentle.

"Bella beautiful," he whispers, just for me. His forehead touches mine. The messy red-brown hair there tickles.

"H-hi."

"You gonna show 'em that heaven you been hiding?"

I swallow, looking past his arm at a sea of gawking, hateful faces. I drop my gaze, but his fingers under my chin stop me from ducking my head.

"My girl doesn't bow to anyone."

His words are a buffer against the way my heart slams into my ribcage.

"I'm s-s-s-care-sca-" My mouth moves, but the words refuse to come.

I glance back at the crowd still mostly staring our way.

Edward pulls my face toward him.

"Don't let them do this," he says, fierce, angry. "Don't let them dictate who you are."

He kisses me once, twice, and then pushes me toward the stage when my name is called.

There are murmurs in the audience, laughs that make me want to crumble and cry, but I don't take my eyes off pure sea-green that burns bright for me.

The music starts.

Edward taps his chest twice, right over his heart.

I let piano notes wash over me like waves.

I sing, my words finally free.

Edward smiles.

I shine.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**


	15. Prompt 8

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**  
**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: #8**  
**Pen Name: lellabeth**  
**Pairing/Character(s): Bella/Edward**  
**Rating: M**  
**Word Count: 492**

**Photo prompts can be found here:**  
**thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts**

* * *

"Legs apart."

I do as he asks, opening my thighs wide and letting the cool air of the bar kiss my flushed skin.

"You watched me for hours tonight," he accuses, voice low and rumbling.

"You get a lot of attention," I reply quietly, shivering when his rough hand strokes the inside of my knee.

"Yours is the only attention I want."

His hand trails further up my leg.

"You're the only woman I want to see." He slides the blunt ridge of his nail across my inner thigh. "The only woman who sees me."

I stare at his tattooed arms, take in the black t-shirt stretched taut across his chest. I look at a slightly crooked nose and full pink lips, arched eyebrows and teal eyes that burn. I see lean muscle and tanned skin, white teeth and pierced places and messy hair, small scars and dimpled cheeks.

"They see you," I say weakly.

"Not the way you do." He runs a finger inside the edge of my underwear. "No woman has ever seen me the way you do."

He hooks my panties and pulls them down my legs, the lace tickling my sensitive skin as it passes.

"Lay back on the bar."

I comply, feeling the cool wood beneath me.

"Spread wider. Don't be shy."

I feel the brush of his hair across my thighs.

A warning.

A promise.

I move them wider.

"Good girl."

He doesn't lick or kiss or tease, just devours. He sucks my clit, fucks me with his tongue, fingers me until I'm writhing.

"Is this what you think about when you watch me? You see those women fawn over me and laugh, knowing yours is the only pussy I want to worship?"

I stay quiet.

He pulls away.

"Yes! Yes, it makes me feel good."

"As good as this?" He curls his fingers inside me.

"Please!"

His laugh vibrates against my wet flesh, his fingers moving faster as he purses his lips around my clit and flicks it roughly with his tongue.

I whimper.

His fingers rub harder.

His wedding ring scrapes against my skin.

I come violently, gasping and shaking and gripping his hair. My cries echo around the empty bar as his movements soften and slow, his sucking turning to gentle pecks.

"Kiss me, B"

He moves up and leans over so I can plant my lips on his, feeling the slick-salt wetness on his mouth.

"Definitely louder here than you are at home, baby."

I stroke his hair, smoothing down the parts I made messy. "I don't have a baby I'm scared of waking here."

"Mmm, I'm definitely not complaining." He kisses me hard. "Speaking of our baby, shall we go relieve Mom of babysitting duty?"

I nod and he helps me off the bar, straightening my skirt and steadying me.

His green eyes blaze in the light of the _Bella's_ sign as he strokes my cheek.

"The only woman I see."

* * *

***ahem*... thank you for reading!**


	16. Prompt 24

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**  
**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: #24**  
**Pen Name: lellabeth**  
**Pairing/Character(s): Bella/Edward**  
**Rating: M**  
**Word Count: 479**

**Photo prompts can be found here:**  
**thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts**

* * *

The breeze is cold against my tear-tracked cheek as the water lulls and laps gently around my feet. I stand at the edge of a lake I can't see the other side of, nothing and everything in front of me all at once. The fading rays of the evening sun ignite the sky in orange-yellow stripes that reflect against the water's surface, a background bright enough to cover the image of a sad girl clutching onto broken dreams.

I raise my face toward the sky, feel the warmth of life all around me. I soak it in, but it feels like a million ants crawling and biting across my skin. I open my eyes, but the glare ahead blinds and burns until I see nothing but endless light.

His footsteps are soft as he makes his way across the sand behind me. His presence is like a too-tight embrace, suffocating and uncomfortable, smothering me with love when all I want is to hate.

"Leave me alone. I need to be alone."

"I can't," he says, strangled and raspy and hopeless.

I wrap my arms around my stomach, cling to the body that's disappointed and betrayed me. He moves closer, his feet making small splashes as the water washes over them.

"I need to be alone," I repeat, but the sob that follows shows him too much.

His hand is tentative as it cups my hip, but just that touch is enough to make me as liquid as the lake before us. I lean back into his body, let him hold me against his chest like I'm a small child.

The sun dips below the horizon, abandoning us to the dusk.

No light. No hope.

"I'm not ready to say goodbye to you," I whisper, pushing words past my sandpaper throat.

Our bodies tremble as one. "So don't." He kisses the back of my head. "Don't say goodbye."

Cries bubble and spill over. "I have to say goodbye. I don't know how long I ha-"

"Love me like you never have to say goodbye," he begs, pressing his face into my wind-chilled neck. "Pretend we have forever to spend together, and give me that instead."

I cling to his hands, try to wrap myself up in him. He pushes back, enfolds me tighter, embraces me until we're nothing but a hazy silhouette in the pale moonlight.

"I'll miss you."

His sobs make my shoulders shake.

"You'll always be with me."

_I wish I was,_ I want to say. _I'm terrified of what comes after_.

But instead I rest my tired head on his strong shoulder and lift a hand to point to the diamond-studded sky.

"Just look for the brightest star in the sky. That's where I'll be."

His heartbreak drips from his jaw and onto my shoulders.

"You'll always be there?"

"I promise."

"And you'll love me?"

"Infinitely."

* * *

**Thank you so much for reading.**


	17. Prompt 9

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**  
**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: #9**  
**Pen Name: lellabeth**  
**Pairing/Character(s): Jasper/Alice**  
**Rating: M**  
**Word Count: 393**

**Photo prompts can be found here:**  
**thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts**

* * *

It started with a cough.

Days passed.

Flushed skin, sweat-ridden fevers, airways squeezed so tight that no air reached fast-pumping hearts. Flu-like sneezing, hallucinations and dreaming, lethargic bodies and overactive minds.

Time held no meaning.

An epidemic, the newsreader claimed.

Enough to wipe out the population of the earth, another said.

Experts gave death toll predictions in the billions, staring their own death in the face like they had nothing to fear. Scientists spoke of mutations, of cells multiplying too fast to fight. TV presenters spoke about survivors' clans, about a world we'd never know.

Except those who were to live.

Random immunity, they called it - barely understandable, definitely undetectable. No differences at face value, or even at microscopic levels. No broken links in a DNA chain, no magical membrane making up their mitochrondria.

Just fate, they said.

My fate was to watch my family shake with bone-rattling coughs, watch them sucummb to sickness and waste and then death.

I was one of the lucky ones, left untouched.

Left behind.

I wandered lonely streets, ignoring rapidly decaying bodies and the even faster downfall of society. I hid in houses containing corpses. I drove cars I wasn't old enough to own keys to. I stayed close to my neighborhood, too scared to venture to the big city, too afraid of leaving the smallest touch of familiarity in a world I couldn't recognise.

I met him on the day that winter turned into spring.

He appeared from thin air, it seemed, across a street on a cracked sidewalk. Honey-blond hair, whiskey-brown eyes. A body so tall it blocked out the sun, and yet when he smiled, it seemed that everything shone.

"I'm Jasper Whitlock," he shouted hoarsely, like he hadn't spoken in weeks. He moved toward me with his arms in the air, palms flat out to show he meant no harm.

"Mary Alice," I called back.

He stepped even closer. His eyes were tear-filled, glinting like precious stones.

I stepped into the deserted road.

His arms opened wide and I almost fell into them, so desperate for contact, to be touched.

We let the day turn to twilight before we broke apart.

I walked empty roads, searched desolate houses, but now I did so with his hand holding on to mine.

Clinging tight, like we were the last two people in the world.

* * *

**I thought this one would be fitting for Halloween. Thank you for reading!**


	18. Prompt 5

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**  
**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: #5**  
**Pen Name: lellabeth**  
**Pairing/Character(s): Bella/Edward**  
**Rating: T**  
**Word Count: 498**

**Photo prompts can be found here:**  
**thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts**

**Thanks to Geeky and EDB for reading this over. You're both wonderful.**

* * *

"Boys against girls, okay?"

We all groan at Alice's statement. The three boys are all on the football team, and us girls have barely done a day of sport between us. Ever.

Jasper squats down while Edward stands behind him. Emmett runs over to the other side of the small field.

Alice, Rose and I just stare at them and then each other.

"Uh, I guess I'll take this place," I say, squatting down. I've never been more thankful for leggings under dresses.

Rose walks over toward Emmett while Alice stands behind me.

"You know Bella, your hair is totally unevenly parted back he-" Her words descend into squealing as the football flies towards us. She flails and almost drops it, but thankfully she throws it to Rose before it can fall on me.

"Do you even know how to play?" Jasper shouts.

Alice huffs. "Shut up, Jasper!"

"Um, help!" Rose shouts, clutching onto the football as Emmett runs behind her.

I stand up and motion for her to throw it to me.

She does so just as Emmett wraps his arms around her, nuzzling her neck as he pulls her back into his body.

"Great work, Em!" Edward shouts, rolling his eyes as he looks from the kissing couple over to me. I squeak as his gaze focuses on the ball. He begins moving toward me slowly, arms out.

"Careful now, Swan. I don't want to hurt you," he teases, his grin cocky.

I narrow my eyes. "As if you could, Cullen."

I clutch onto the ball and run left, hoping to move past him. Alice gets waylaid by Jasper, so it's just me and Edward as I run further down the field.

"You think you can make it, Bella?"

I almost do, but Edward catches onto the edge of my arm. I spin and flail, my shoes sliding everywhere. He tries to grab hold and steady me, but instead he slips too and knocks us both to the ground.

I land heavily on my back, gasping for air.

Edward's above me, eyebrows pulled tight with concern.

"Bella, are you okay? Shit, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to knock you down."

I shake my head, wondering why my lungs won't work.

Edward must see the panic in my eyes. "Just breathe. You're probably winded. In and out, nice and slow."

I try and do as he says. He squeezes my hand tightly..

"Good," Edward says once I'm breathing more steadily. "I thought I'd have to give you the kiss of life."

I stare at his beautiful face, the teasing pout of his lips, and I'm tempted to fake a fainting spell.

Instead I wheeze, "The first time you kiss me, Cullen, it will not be on a football field."

His eyes widen.

"Up you get," he says, hauling me up off the ground and over his shoulder.

"What are you doing?" I ask, laughing.

"Getting us the hell off this field so I can get that kiss."

* * *

**Something a little sweeter than usual! Thank you for reading.**


	19. Prompt 15

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**  
**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: #15**  
**Pen Name: lellabeth**  
**Pairing/Character(s): Edward/Bella**  
**Rating: T**  
**Word Count: 413**

**Photo prompts can be found here:**  
**thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts**

* * *

Breathe slower.

Stop thinking, stop thinking, stop thinking.

Breathe slower, count to ten, breathe slower.

Feel the air hit your lungs, let them expand.

Tuck your hair behind your ear but don't, because then you'll see, and if you see them they'll see you.

They'll see you.

_Breathe slower._

Rattling salt shakers as your fingers tremble against the stained table-top. Trace the coffee marks, round and round until the room stops spinning.

No one's looking.

But your skin feel too tight anyway. It pulls taut, like you'll burst out of it.

Breathe slower.

Clench your fists, bite your cheek, press your toes so hard into the floor that you can't even feel them.

You should've stayed home.

_You should've stayed home._

Heart pounding, eyes blurring, chest squeezing and everything moves so fast, too fast.

Except him. He moves into your sight one step at a time - slow, like he's cautious. Half-smiling, like he's happy to see you.

Try to remember how to smile back. Breathe slower.

Then he moves closer, and now you really can't breathe. Hand extended, cup moving on to the table in front of you.

Marshmallows and hot chocolate, warm and sweet and everything you're not.

You lift a shaking hand toward the mug. Rest it over the brim, let the steam pass through your fingers until there's nothing but mist and vapor clinging to your skin.

His eyes are green.

"I'm Edward," he says.

Your words are trapped behind padlocked lips, fizzing like acid on you tongue. You swallow once, again.

"Bella."

It's one word - choked and wheezy and weak - but it feels like victory.

"You looked like you could use some chocolate."

You wonder if it costs him to speak to you, or whether he thinks nothing of the smiles that feel like lifelines.

He sits in the booth opposite you, and you wish - for many things, but mostly that you could thank him without feeling like the world will cave in.

Social anxiety disorder, the psychiatrist said. Life-stealer, you call it.

"You like the quiet, Bella?"

You nod and stare just over his shoulder, taking a sip of the hot chocolate.

"We can be quiet," he says.

You're silent together. It feels much less lonely than the quiet usually does.

His eyes are fixed on you, but they don't feel like hot pokers pressing into your skin.

Then you realise that you're breathing steady, in and out, deep and unwavering.

He smiles.

* * *

**A little out there, but it's been on my mind for a while. Thank you for reading!**


	20. Prompt 23

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**  
**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: #23**  
**Pen Name: lellabeth**  
**Pairing/Character(s): Bella/Edward**  
**Rating: M**  
**Word Count: 499**

**Photo prompts can be found here:**  
**thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts**

**I uploaded this one again, seeing as FFn ruined the formatting the first time around (thanks to HollBeth for letting me know). For clarification - the parts in italics and between them are flashbacks.**

* * *

Ten thousand sleepless, eternal nights, and she returns. Soft, thudding footsteps as she scales the roof, making her way to the only window that isn't boarded up.

He sits in the dark, staring at the peeling paper of the wall ahead of him, and he waits.

He'll never be done waiting.

The whoosh of a glass pane flying open, and then a muted thump. Venom pools as her scent floats downstairs. She's drawing it out, moving slower than a human would as she makes her way to him. He taps his fingers in a fast rhythm, matching the racing of his non-existent pulse.

"Edward," she whispers, nothing more than the ghost of a sound. "I missed you."

Memories roll through his mind like the flickering slides of a film.

_"Change me. If you love me, then you'll change me."_

_"I can't do that to you, Bella."_

_"Then do it for me. I can't let you go."_

She did change - her skin glowing brighter, her hair thicker, but that wasn't why he couldn't recognize her.

Her heart hadn't just stopped, it had died completely.

_Days and nights spent tracking her, speeding through forests and tumbling through towns, only to be too late._

_"Bella…"_

_She growled, fierce and feral as she dropped to cover her kill. The dead man's face was frozen in a horrified expression that couldn't have been too far from his own._

_"This isn't our way, Bella."_

_A snarl. "Your way is a facade, Edward. You know it as well as I do."_

_Then she turned and ran, and this time he didn't chase her. Instead he thought of her eyes, burning with the color of his heartbreak, and set about making a grave for the man whose death he'd caused._

They were mates, an impenetrable, unending bond.

But the blood lust was stronger.

"It's taken me years to find you."

Her voice is even sweeter than he remembers.

"I didn't know you were looking."

Suddenly she's by his side, hugging him tight. It breaks him to think of her as a killer, but right here in this moment, he can't bring myself to pull away.

"I'd never have stopped looking. Not until we were together again."

He takes his first breath for decades. "I've been lost without you."

"Kiss me."

As their lips meet, he knows he'll have to deal with her drinking human blood. He'll steal from hospitals if he has to, or find people already close to death.

Saying goodbye for a second time just isn't an option.

"Never letting you go again," he vows. "No matter what."

He kisses her forehead, her nose, the perfect curve of her pale cheek.

She laughs, the sound fluttering in the empty space around them.

"I love you," he tells her. "I love you so much."

She entwines their fingers, and the cool metal of her wedding ring against his skin is a promise.

"My girl," he whispers. "My Bella. My wife."

Amber eyes meet his.

"Forever."

* * *

**This is out of my comfort zone, so I'd love to know what you think. Thank you for reading!**


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